Veterans Day 2014: Our Salute To Our Two And Four-Legged Veterans

In the last five + years, we've done quite a few posts about our country's current soldiers, both two and four-legged, as well as our veterans.

                        Photo courtesy of PolicyMic.com

In 2012, for example, we discussed the history of "Armistice Day" and featured the top five picks of PolicyMic.com for the top dog soldiers since WWI.

Photo of Sgt. Kevin Brackney and service dog, Nyma, courtesy of CBS News.

Last year, we discussed the role that service dogs play to improve the lives of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

For this year's salute to all of our veterans, we're thrilled to take a bit of a detour from canines, and look at the role horses (in this case, wild mustangs)  play in helping returning vets rebuild their lives. Take a few minutes to watch this fascinating video from CBS News and let us know what you think. Typically, Parental Unit is not in favor of domesticating wild animals (even wild horses), but in this case, it helps the horses out, too. The Bureau of Land Management's policies have been less than wild mustang friendly lately, and at least this not-for-profit program spares their lives.

P.S. We've tried deperately to embed this CBS video like we usually do, but apparently, Blogger cannot embed Flash videos...

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An Early Celebration: Victories For Animals!

Just in case you all don't receive e-mail updates from the ASPCA, we wanted to pass this along. The ASPCA has rounded up some of the significant legislative victories for animals this year. So check them out here...and give a little cheer!  www.aspca.org/News/National/National-News-Detail.aspx?NDate=20101210&NType=National

And speaking of round-ups and legislation to protect animals, we also wanted to pass along this article from today's New York Times: "100 Days to a Tamed Mustang: Makeovers Prepare Wild Horses for Adoption",  that we found particularly interesting. It discusses a program that since 2007, has teamed the Bureau of Land Management and the non-profit organization, Mustang Heritage Foundation, to prepare wild mustangs for adoption. It's called "Extreme Mustang Makeover", a title that the executive director of the Foundation conceived "after watching reality shows on TV."

As much as many of us would love to know that each and every wild mustang left in our western states are roaming free, the reality is that their populations must be reduced in some fashion. Fortunately, the "Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, prohibits these wild animals from being killed; instead, they are rounded up, and "the Bureau [of Land Management] tries to find them a good home."
Read this very interesting article here: www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/sports/13mustang.html?_r=1&ref=sports and tell us what you think!

Meanwhile...we're already longing for the days when our backyard looked like this...

Because now it looks more like this...

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